Serial ATA Hard Drive

A friend bought a new DELL (8400) that came with a 160 GB hard drive - serial ATA. When he first started the system, the hard drive was not recognized but then after restarting the system a few times, the hard drive came up OK. He configured the system and transferred files, documents, pictures, etc from his old computer to the new system. The next day, the new Dell does not recognize the hard drive. He did not make a backup of his files, pictures, etc. Dell tech support says his hard drive is defective and are sending a new tower. I do not have a system that will take a serial ATA hard drive. Is it necessary to have a system that will connect to the ATA serial drive or is there some kind of adapter so it could hook up with a IDE drive? I would like to recover his files and pictures if at all possible. Suggestions please. Thanks.